LONE VOICES IN THE PAPER

Kevin O’Brien wrote a decent article in the Plain Dealer during Holy Week concerning the state of marriage.  He definitely spoke against the political correct position.  In part he said:

 

“Marriage is the fundamental basis of civilization and the smallest functional molecule of the organism that we call society.  One may reject the idea that God ordained heterosexual marriage as part of his plant for humanity, but one cannot reject the argument that nature ordained it as a matter of practical necessity.  Only heterosexual relationships can perpetuate the species.  There simply is no other way of going about it.”

 

That’s called Natural Law. 

 

He goes on further (and this is where I think he really makes his case) “If we put the law at odds with the order established and replicated though out nature, then how can anyone ever justify drawing a new legal boundary line?”  In other words, if we redefine marriage to be any two people who want to commit themselves to each other for life, why stop there?  What about polygamy?  Why should such people be denied the right to marry?  What about the case of the mother and daughter who want to be recognized as married, not for any indecent purpose, but because they want to team up to raise the daughter’s child and want legal protections and benefits?  Why shouldn’t the men of Saint Andrew’s Abby (who take a vow of stability) be recognized as all married so that they may be protected and receive benefits?  The harm?  Once marriage can mean anything, it ceases to mean anything. 

 

I’ve hear people say that it wouldn’t go any further than same sex marriage.  That the idea of it going any further than that is just silly.  But nobody can say why or what there would be to put such a boundary up to stop it there – a boundary that would now be clearly imaginary.

 

Unfortunately I think he hurts his case by saying people could start marrying across species and with inanimate objects.   Other species and such objects cannot give their consent. 

 

After finishing the article we said, “Man, is he going to get crucified tomorrow” and he was.  But if there is going to be any meeting ground on this issue, it will be with points such as this.  “God ordained it” as much as I may believe it is not going to wash with those who don’t believe that.

TUESDAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK CCLXXXIX

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND:  "The aim of preaching is to tell man who he is and what he must do to be himself.  Its intention is to disclose to him the truth about himself, that is, what he can base his life on and what he can die for."  Cardinal Ratzinger

 

QUOTE II:  (In reference to homilies)  "If the pilot doesn't know how to land the plane, he's not the only one on board who is nervous."  Fr. peter John Cameron O.P.

 

IN OTHER NEWS:

 

Very late blog today.  Spent most of the day in bed with the flu.  BLAH.  Thank you God that it struck AFTER the Easter brouhaha.

 

If you haven't heard, the pope's coat of arms have gone through some adjustments.  The flower no longer looks like an upside down bunch of grapes and the star now has 8 points which is more in keeping with the heraldic symbol for Mary.  Read more here.

 

Friends traveling in Rome got a shot of the new pope:

 

Mary wrote to say, "When some fellow homeschoolers were talking in our Yahoo group about Christian symbolism, your name came up, and I decided to complete my sketchy outline of topics you have covered on symbolism on Adam's Ale. I've been keeping a running list of your links to your posts on windows, the organ, architecture, etc., so I went ahead and added more posts on symbolism and a few other things."

 

Wow, that's a lot of work!  Thanks for doing it.  Here are the links for those who might be interested:

 

Study of the Sacred Arts with a focus on Adam's Ale posts.  Go here.

 

Adam's Ale posts on symbolism and beauty.  Go here

 

And here is today's video sent in by Frank for those who need a little laugh.  (Under a minute.)  Go here.

MONDAY DIARY: ALMOST EXCRUCIALTINGLY TRUE STORIES: THE EASTER STORY BEHIND THE SCENES

As much as I absolutely love the Easter celebrations, I am glad they only happen once a year!  It takes hundreds of people and hundreds of hours to pull together the Triduum and Easter Masses and getting everybody on the same page takes lots of energy.  And the Easter Vigil begins in darkness and quiet.  The calm before the storm.  But in reality, the sacristy does not mirror this before we get started.  It can't.  Not when there are dozens of people who need to get their jobs done.  It is more like the storm before the calm before the storm:

And it doesn't help that I am an introvert.  I need to time to think and process before such an event as the Easter Vigil.  There's lots of things that go on that do not happen the rest of the year and most of the time you just need to remember.  Not one of my strong points.  So I ditched the chaos and went out to where the boy scouts were starting the fire for the beginning of the Mass.

There were a number of compliments concerning the night and how flawless it seemed.  Well, "seemed" would be the operative word.  One of the first things you teach a server is that no matter what you do, make it look like you were supposed to do it.  The clergy and seminarians have an "afterglow" party and call to mind all the things that went wrong that we hope nobody noticed.  Some things were difficult to hide like the flower that fell off of its stand and landed upside down on the altar of repose.  Other things I think we were able to cover:

There are also lots of subtle gestures and facial expressions in order to help move things along in the correct order.  In all of the practicing there are little details that might have been overlooked, or something springs up that we were not expecting, or someone just didn't remember well from practice.  Here are some the facial clues to convey information without overly alerting the congregation that is (hopefully) praying.

One of the strangest sights for me at the Easter Vigil was when Fr. P went over to the ambo to sing the Exultet (in the dark.)  While he was waiting for the congregation to return to their pews after the blessing of the fire, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his Magic Phone and placed it next to his text.  Afterwords at the afterglow we were joking about what he might have been doing.

 

Sending an Email to the ushers to get the people in more quickly?

 

Turning on his flashlight app?

 

Tweeting #I'm singing the Exultet what are you doing?

 

As it turns out he was turning on his keyboard app in order to get the first note.

"Last year," he informed us, "I started too high and suffered through the rest of the singing.  I was going to start on the right note this year no matter what."  (It was his finest singing of the Exultet yet.)

 

Today (Easter Monday) the offices are closed.  No school either.  Quiet, quiet, quiet.  People were saying, "Oh Father, it will be a wonderful day for you to spend in peace and get rested up.

 

Not quite.

HAPPY EASTER!

HE IS RISEN!

HE IS RISEN INDEED!

 

 

 

May the fullest blessing of the Resurrected Lord

be upon you and your loved ones

today and throughout the whole year.

 

 

Some Easter Games for kids - look here.

 

Some interesting "Easter Eggs" for adults.  look here

A BLESSED TRIDUUM TO YOU

May God fill you with His grace on this Good Friday

If you have to work today or are otherwise kept from getting to Good Friday services today, you may still offer up prayers this afternoon and unite them with Church all over the world as we commemorate the Passion of Our Lord.  If you can, I suggest to you the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

 

Other things to consider on this holy day:

 

The Vatican proclaims 65 new 20th century martyrs.  Read more here.

 

Pope Frances washes the feet of 12 persons on Maundy Thursday.  Read more here.

 

If you live locally, services at St. Sebastian Parish today:



Family Stations of the Cross:  NOON

Good Friday Services:  3:00PM

 

Saturday we will have the Blessing of Foods at 1:00PM.  For more information on this service click HERE.

I DO - ONCE

My parents celebrated their 50^th wedding anniversary shortly after I was ordained.  As part of the celebrations I asked my parents if they wanted to re-exchange their wedding vows.  Mom, who was fairly open to anything, gave her one adamant answer to all of the questions we asked:  “NO!”  She explained, “I gave my vows once and I meant it.”  (That's their wedding picture to the right at the old Sacred Heart parish.)

 

Concerning the priesthood I have the same theory as my Mother but not the practice.  Every year in Holy Week all the priests of a diocese who can make it gather with the bishop to celebrate the Chrism Mass.  It is the one time of year that the priesthood is officially celebrated.  The bishop’s homily, speaking to his sons, is given directly to or about priesthood.  And then, as when all Catholics are asked to restate their baptismal vows at Easter, priests are asked to reaffirm their vows.  As the bishop asks “Are you resolved . . .” the entire cathedral rings out with a resounding, “I AM!” from your priests.

 

Also at this mass, the sacred oils used in the entire diocese the upcoming year are blessed.  Each parish has properly disposed of their oils either by burying them or burning them, cleaned and prepared the containers for the oils which are called stocks, and then they bring them to the cathedral this day to have them refilled with the new oils.  These are the oils used for the sick, for those preparing for baptism, and the sacred Chrism used for baptism, confirmation, and priesthood as well as certain other uses.

 

The place where your oils are kept at your parish is called the ambry.  Sometimes they are in very public places with glass doors, and sometimes they are hidden away in the sacristy.  But if you lay your eyes on it, know the journey that those oils took and the celebration that was had so that they might be available for use in your parish.

TUESDAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK CCLXXXVIII

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND:  "We all readily understand that our physical energies are limited.  Distance runners approach the state of collapse at the end of a twenty-six mile marathon.  Most of us do not easily grasp that our mental resources are also limited.  This is why the individual who spills himself out in sense stimulations, who is engulfed in the mass media, is never a person of deep prayer."  from Thomas Dubay's, "Fire Within"

 

QUOTE II:  "Unfortunately many baptized persons depart from this life without ever realizing that they were destined to a deep communion with God.  Vocal prayer was all they knew, for it was all they were taught."  same source

 

IN OTHER NEWS:

 

Russ sent this great article in on how the Sistine Chapel was painted.  Here is a link for a tour of the chapel where Pope Francis was just elected.  Look up, look down, look all around and don't forget to zoom.  Warning if you are looking at this when you are supposed to be working: There is music in the background.

 

You are invited to the Chrism Mass (when priests of the diocese renew their vows and the oils used throughout the year at every parish are blessed) tonight at our cathedral.  Here is more information.

 

Fr. B sent this video in.  A kid in his parish made this video.  Pretty cool:

A HAPPY AND GRACE FILLED HOLY WEEK TO YOU

MONDAY DIARY: SAID THE MAD HATTER, "MOVE ONE SPACE"

Parochial vicars (priest assistants) are moved every four years in this diocese. It is shocking to me that four years have almost past since Fr. Pfeiffer came to St. Sebastian and he will soon be moving on.  Funny, we have different views on this upcoming event.   

I am so upset that I misspelled "really" in the above cartoons.  Twice. 

 

I have never dealt with being the pastor and going through the process of getting a new (hopefully - we shall see) parochial vicar.  Because of this I have become rather aware of the rough job that the powers that be have.  It is so complicated somebody should really make a board game of it.

Now, one would think that one simply lines up the priests in one column and the available placements in the other and draw lines connecting the two.

But such is not the case.  It is a bit more like Sudoku.  All kinds of hidden factors come in to play. 

It isn't enough just to move the players around.  Just for example: In general you don't simply move a priest from one parish the one next door.  That can cause all kinds of problems.  One might be that the priest was very popular and the people take off and follow him not giving the next guy a chance.  That can be devastating for a parish.  Or lifestyle choices don't mesh.  One of the first things - no, the very first thing I asked Fr. Pfeiffer when I met him was, "Do you like dogs?"  This whole thing would not have worked out if he didn't get along with Sebastian.

 

There are other considerations also.  For example: The St. Sebastian rectory, while nice, is not very friendly if you are not fit.  There are at least 5 sets of stairs between any room and the sanctuary of the church.  Also, if you like baths, this place only has showers.  Well, there is a bath in my room and in one of the offices, but they are TINY.  They really should be called low wash basins.  Being over six foot I find them almost useless for anything save for giving the dog a bath.

 

But just when you think you are done - other unforeseen factors hit the fan:

The bishop may send somebody away for studies.  Or a priest might reassigned for a spell outside of the diocese, or (God forbid) somebody becomes very ill . . . or something else unforeseen.  So say a pastor applies for the vacancy.  He then, in turn, creates a vacancy.  So you move pastors around to fill the pastor spots and after that complete rearrangement is done, you still need to take somebody out of the vicar rotation and plug them into the pastor spot that remains open - which may mean all of the other vicar assignments now need to be re-arranged.

 

And how do you win this game?  There really is only one way:

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: THE PEOPLE OF GOD

In honor of the Year of Faith we have been examining the documents of Vatican II.  Today we continue our journey through Lumen Gentium.  The next section is called “The People of God.”  It is the beginning of a self examination a little bit like sitting down, looking in the mirror and contemplating who you are in the world.  This is a sampling from the first two paragraphs:

 

9. The “people of God” (POGs) have been those since the beginning of time who have loved God and done their best to follow Him.  But the true nature of the POGs is not “me and God” but rather “us and God,” a community of believers connected as brothers and sisters who have been built up over time (by God) until it reached its fullness in Jesus Christ.  Now we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation (1 Pete 2;9-10).

 

Christ is the head of this body and in the hearts of all believers is the Temple of His Holy Spirit (hence yesterday’s post.)  This body or Church is the visible presence for the world of the saving power of Christ.  Therefore it is to be known as universal (catholic) bringing his salvation to all, in all times and all places, and constantly renewing herself in the Spirit.

 

10. United in Christ we all share in the priesthood of Jesus called to offer spiritual sacrifices and offering reasons to anyone who asks why we have such great hope in eternal life.  Now, all in Christ share in the priesthood of Jesus.  This is the priesthood of the faithful.  Some from this group are also called to the ordained priesthood.  Both priesthoods are essential to the life of the Church in their proper way.  The ministerial priesthood stands in persona Christi confecting the Eucharist and offering it to God on behalf of the POGs.  The priesthood of the people participates in Christ’s priesthood by their offerings, thanksgiving, and prayers at the Eucharist, by reception of the Sacrament, and by witnessing to it by a holy life particularly through acts of charity.

IS THE SMOKER MERELY INCENSING THE TEMPLE?

Sometimes at the end of a confession, when a person has expressed all of the sins they can recall, will ask me, “Can you think of anything else?”  They are not supposing that I know them so well that I might make some suggestion of sin of theirs that I might know about but rather is there any area that they may not have considered.  Visiting a whole examination of conscience is a difficult thing to do especially with Easter on our tails and long lines outside of the confessional, but there are generally a couple of questions I might ask.

 

One is, “Are you taking care of yourself?”  We often think of the Christian life – particularly the road to sainthood – as one of denial.  There are times when the denial of the necessities of life are called for.  There is also both a time for denying ourselves the surpluses in life and a time for celebrating with them.  But as a general rule, we are to treat our bodies (that is, ourselves) with care.

 

The body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit.  There is a certain dignity that is present in that.  We should treat it at least as well as we treat our church buildings.  We believe our churches should be clean, well maintained, well appointed without being ostentatious, welcoming, inspiring, consecrated and wholly directed toward the things that are Godly and noble.

 

Should our bodies, physical and living temples of the Holy Spirit, receptacles of the Body and Blood of Jesus being any less so treated?  Do we give ourselves the rest we need (to the extent we are able), consume the proper food and drink at the appropriate amounts, do we exercise, follow the direction of our doctors, observe the times of penance as well as the times of rejoicing, and adorn our bodies modestly?  

 

Being Christian does not mean we ignore our bodies or our health unless it is called upon for the greater glory of God or benefit of our brothers and sisters.  (After all, we do hold up martyrs as an ideal.)  But this life is also gift, and we should treat this gift as preciously as we can.

THE NEW COAT OF ARMS

Unveiled is the new papal coat of arms.  There is much fuss over how simple it is but then again, the best arms are simple.  You may remember that when John Paul II arms were revealed there was a bit of consternation for he had put a large letter "M" on it to represent "Mary" - a huge no-no in the world of heraldry.  There is general agreement that this coat of arms is a success.

 

The shield itself is blue, most often associated in the Church with Mary though in it also stands for steadfastness and fidelity.  Center top is a sun which we can see easily represents THE Son, Jesus, for the IHS (IHSUS - the first three letters for Jesus in Greek) the Cross, and the three nails which represent the three nails that held Jesus to the Cross.  This symbol incidental also is the symbol of the Jesuit order.

 

On the lower left hand corner is a gold star which represents Mary and in the lower right is what looks like an upended bunch of grapes but what is actually a nard flower.  Nope, I never heard of it either.  I looked one up and so present it here.  Apparently it represents St. Joseph though I dare say I don't know from where this comes.  It is not in my books.  I would love to know the source if anybody knows.

 

Anyway, from this we can see the pope's love of the Holy Family and perhaps an aim of his papacy - to safeguard the family.  Time alone will tell.

 

By the way, his motto is Miserando atque eligendo, from a homily of Saint Bede.  It is Latin for "Having had mercy, He called him"  This is a reference to when Jesus called Matthew to be one of his apostles despite his being unworthy.

 

For additional information about herladry in the Church in general, go here.

TUESDAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK CCLXXXVII

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND: (FROM THIS MONTH'S CHESTERTON MEETING): "You go through the worst to the best, as you go through the west to the east . . . and there really is a place, at the back of the world, where the east and the west are one.  Can't you feel there is something so frightfully and frantically good that it must seem bad?"  from the "Four Faultless Felons"

QUOTE II:  "I'm just worried that all the press about Pope Francis' humility will go to his head."  Fr. Pfeiffer (joking of course)

 

IN OTHER NEWS:

M sent in this wonderful "online book" that is a tribute to our pope emeritus.  Thanks.

Nan sent in this article with video at Catholic Spirit about another organ restoration.

Free Catholic E-cards can be found here.

Here is an interesting site entitled TOO MANY ABORTED  They put out a number of videos one of which is this one that I saw on EWTN while awaiting the new pope.

MONDAY DIARY: ALMOST EXCRUSIATINGLY TRUE STORIES: EVERYONE IS IRISH ON MARCH 17TH

I witnessed this in the sacristy this past weekend (St. Patrick's Day)

(Saint Joseph Day is tomorrow by the way.)

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: WOULD JESUS HAVE STAYED AT A HOTEL?

Got your machete out?  There’s a lot more thick material to cut our way through.  I’m doing my best to make it a bit easier to swallow.  Remember that if you want to read the actual text you can find it online at the Vatican website.  Today we look at paragraph 8 of Lumen Gentium.

 

You know how we say that Jesus is 100% man and 100% God: in a similar way we say that the Church is both visible and mystical.  So Christ leads us from heaven yet we have a pope (and a brand spanking new one at that.)  We have structures and hierarchies but there is also the endless pool of grace with which we deal.

 

This (one, holy, catholic, apostolic) Church is given to us by Christ who handed on authority to present day leadership through the power of the keys given to St. Peter.  They are handed down through the generations until being given to Pope Francis.

 

That does not mean that one will find no truth being preached going to that new storefront church that opened up in the old drugstore that closed down years ago or that took over the closed Catholic Church.  The truth found there is part of the gifts of the “Church of Christ” and this truth drives us toward Catholic unity.  (In other words, the fullness of truth resides in the One True Church and all truth leads to unity in it.)

 

Now, here’s a sticky part.  It says that since Jesus emptied Himself of Godly glory, becoming poor to bring His message to the world, so should the Church.  Recognizing that she needs resources with which to carry out her mission, she is none-the-less is to imitate her founder in order to minister to the poor, the sinner, and the sufferer.

 

“Now wait a minute,” you might be saying to yourself, “I just saw the papal election, there was very little impoverished or simple about that!”  And I don’t want to get into a discussion about the Church saving art for the world.  Can one be surrounded by beauty (even in a parish) and still live a simple life?  That is a post for another day.  But we do have a pope named Francis who seems to take simple living rather seriously.  We may see lots of changes coming up.  Stay tuned.

 

(Thanks MW)

In any event, the Church, like a foreigner in a foreign land, is to keep proclaiming Christ crucified and the coming of the Kingdom both to her own and to the world until Christ comes again to bring the fulfillment of His kingdom.

 

And that was all packed in paragraph 8!  I’m afraid I didn’t do it justice.  Next week: The People of God.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES

 

Good morning Jorge (AKA Francis),

 

You have to be pope today.  One day you are riding the subway to work and the next you are standing on the papal balcony before thousands of people wearing the papal white.  I cannot even imagine what it must be like.  You have my prayers.

 

*

 

So today starts a new chapter in the life of the Church.  Soon we will have to get used to a new face replacing Benedict’s hanging in the hallway.  At Mass there will be the remembering to say the name Francis when we pray for the pope.  There is a new voice to which we will become accustomed to listening when he gives talks and a new style of writing when a document is presented.

 

*

 

On a lighter note, immediately after the announcement that we had a new pope, we received an Email memo from our diocese instructing us to have a noon Mass on Friday (tomorrow) for the new pope.  So I, being a good soldier, advertised it, sent out Emails and one calls, lined up ministers and picked reading.

 

Then we got a second memo.  An updated memo.  It said, “Mistake.  We didn’t mean have your own Mass, but come join along with your people the Bishop at the cathedral.”  But as the song goes, “Well it’s too late baby, yea, it’s too late . . .”

 

So, if you are looking for a way to celebrate . . . you could either go to the Cathedral and join the bishop or, if it is more convenient, stop by St. Sebastian for noon Mass tomorrow for Pope Francis.